It has for decades been known to employ exposed cool-air conduits in the passenger compartments of motor vehicles. These fed air-conditioned air to the passenger compartments from conditioning units located, at least in large part, in the vehicle itself. For example, the conditioning unit would be located in the trunk of an automobile, in the luggage compartment of a van, or to one side of the van adjacent one of the seats therein.
It has been know for many years to have commuter vans, these being stretched out vans adapted to carry larger numbers of passengers than do more conventional vans. Some companies stretching their vans have done so without simultaneously elongating the wheel base of the van. Thus, the stretched-out portion is to the rear of the gas tank, thus generating a substantial amount of unused dead space between the gas tank and the rear bumper. At the same time, these same vans were being air conditioned in a highly inadequate manner, year after year, as by heat exchangers and expansion valves located at the front portion of the vehicle so that cooled air was introduced at the front, as in a passenger automobile, and often in unbalanced manner.